A new perspective

Social media is a source of all things real, fake, deep, superficial, new and old altogether and more, if that is at all possible. As one who appreciates a different perspective on “things,” the text below flipped “things” around for me in a powerful way. I cannot vouch for the source or even if this came from an actual therapist. But, I am grateful for having come across this particular item. It provided me with a much needed new perspective on... "things."

 No cry for help - source unconfirmed

I’m a therapist and keep this poster in my waiting room, apparently it saved a few lives.

I don’t like the phrase “a cry for help.” I just don’t like how it sounds. When somebody says to me, “I’m thinking about suicide, I have a plan; I just need a reason not to do it,” the last thing I see is helplessness.

I think: your depression has been beating you up for years. It has called you ugly and stupid and pathetic and a failure for so long that you’ve forgotten that it’s wrong. You don’t see any good in yourself and you don’t have any hope.

But still, here you are, you’ve come over to me, banged on my door and said “Hey! Staying alive is really hard right now! Just give me something to fight with! I don’t care if it’s a stick! Give me a stick and I can stay alive!”

How is that helpless? I think that’s incredible. You’re like a marine: trapped for years behind enemy lines, your gun has been taken away, you’re out of ammo, you’re malnourished and you’ve probably caught some kind of jungle virus that’s making you hallucinate giant spiders.

And you’re still just going, “Give me a stick. I’m not dying out here.”

“A cry for help” makes it sound like I’m supposed to take pity on you, but you don’t need my pity. This isn’t pathetic. This is the will to survive. This is how humans lived long enough to become the dominant species.

With no hope, running on nothing, you’re ready to cut through a hundred miles of hostile jungle with nothing but a stick, if that’s what it take to get to safety.

All I’m doing is handing out sticks.

You’re the one staying alive.